Oxford University digitizes old paintings of Hindu gods

University of Oxford has posted digital versions of 110 Kalighat paintings of Hindu deities and others from 19th-century Calcutta on its new online portal “Digital.Bodleian”.

These include paintings of Hindu deities Krishna, Shiva, Ganesha, Durga, Hanuman, Parvati, Kali, etc., which were acquired by Sir Monier Monier-Williams in the winter of 1883-1884. Some of these paintings had cost one anna each at that time.

Applauding Oxford University Bodleian Libraries for digitizing images of Hindu deities and making them available to a wide variety of users from around the world for learning, teaching and research; distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged major libraries of the world to make available the digitized versions of Hindu art from their collections on their online portals, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

Bodleian Libraries of University of Oxford have over 11 million printed items, about 80,000 e-journals and vast quantities of materials in many other formats. University of Oxford, one of the top world universities, is oldest university in the English-speaking world.